Catheters are thin tubes commonly used in medicine for accurately administering or withdrawing fluids. Typically, one end of a catheter is inserted into a patient, and an opposite end is connected to a fluid application and/or removal device, such as a syringe, for appropriately administering or withdrawing fluids to or from a patient. A catheter is usually connected to a syringe via an interfacing catheter connector. Such catheter connectors enable a medical practitioner to accurately administer or drain fluids by operating the connected syringe. However, traditional catheter connectors have various problems.
For example, traditional catheter connectors are commonly composed of a single part cone shaped or cylindrical tube, in which a catheter is inserted into one end of the tube, and a syringe, is attached at an opposite end of the tube. Such traditional catheter connectors usually rely solely on material tension of the connector tube to secure a catheter, and thus can result in an insecure connection.
Further, some common traditional catheter connectors require assembling and/or configuring multiple external parts to properly connect a catheter to a syringe. For example, some common catheter connectors require inconvenient latching, clamping and/or attaching various external components, such as plastic flaps, clamps, hinges, etc. Most catheter connectors are manufactured to be cheap and space-efficient. As such, these external parts may easily break, or may be hard to operate in emergency situations.
Epidural catheter connectors are a specific type of catheter connector designed to interface between a fluid application and/or removal device and an epidural catheter inserted into the epidural space and protruding from the patient's body, generally for providing controlled and extremely precise administration of epidural anesthetics. An epidural catheter must tightly yet unobtrusively grip the catheter in order to prevent disconnection of the catheter (which can be harmful to the patient) and guarantee correct flow of the epidural anesthetic through the catheter. In addition, epidural catheter connectors should preferably be easy to attach to the catheter, minimizing the risk of errors and pulling of the catheter. Epidural catheter connectors known in the art, namely, catheter-clamping connectors and threaded connectors are in risk of obstructing the catheter and also require excessive manual operation of the connector in order to fasten onto the catheter.
Thus, there is an established need for an epidural catheter connector device that can easily and safely be attached to an epidural catheter in order to facilitate the further connection of a syringe or other fluid application and/or removal device to a catheter for delivery of medical fluids to or remove fluids from a patient.